Screw Gender Roles, I'm Doing This My Way
by Selene Illusinia
Summary: Darcy Stark Series. Darcy thinks she might want something more with Clint.


"...so then he got kinda weird and twitchy," finished Darcy as she tightened the final screw in Peter's new web slinger. Turning to face her friend, she offered him the modified device. Having her friend actually on the Avenger's team was awesome, mostly because he was actually _around _for her to drag him into her workshop at 3 am when she couldn't sleep and needed someone to talk to. Everyone else got mad when she did that, except Clint but he was the reason she couldn't sleep. "Try it on."

"It sounds like Clint's jealous," stated Peter as he pulled the device on and shot it at the ceiling. His webbing flew out easily and he tried to climb it to ensure it would hold. "Have you talked to him about it?"

"Lots," confirmed Darcy with a sigh. "He's afraid I'm going to leave him, and I get that. Starks don't really have the best rep when it comes to relationships. I'm just not sure what I can do to really drive home the fact that I don't want anyone else. That I want to stay with him."

"For the rest of your life?" asked Peter, looking down at Darcy form the ceiling.

Darcy nodded. "Pretty much, yeah. I can't think of any reason I'd want to leave him and we've been dating for over a year."

"Then ask him to marry you," suggested Peter, swinging a little on the web.

"What?" yelped Darcy, nearly falling off her stool.

Peter glanced at his friend again and shook his head. "Ask him to marry you. Women can do that now, you know."

"Yeah, I know..." muttered Darcy, her eyes falling to the floor as she turned the idea over in her head. "It just never occurred to me."

Shrugging, Peter released the webbing and began crawling across the ceiling like he sometimes did when bored. "Not really surprising. Your family isn't exactly normal."

"Hey!" exclaimed Darcy, glaring up at Peter. "We function just fine!"

"I never said you were dysfunctional," stated Peter. "And believe me, I'd be the first person to say it, too. But you aren't exactly the Jones' either."

"Who'd want to be?" asked Darcy. "Normalcy is over-rated."

"It's got it's uses," argued Peter. "Like marriage. Marriage is normal."

"Unless you're Dad and Pepper," countered Darcy. "I'm not sure their marriage is normal."

"Your father is involved," reminded Peter. "He's not allowed to be normal. It breaks several cosmic rules."

"True," agreed Darcy with a sigh. Her gaze fell to the floor again, eyes unfocusing as her mind worked.

Peter watched her from the ceiling for several minutes before dropping to the floor a few feet from where she stood. "Darcy?"

"Hm?" asked Darcy, blinking at Peter in surprise. "What's up?"

"The ceiling, which I just came from. It's very nice this time of year." Shaking his head, wondered over to where she was standing and leaned against the closest workbench. "I lost you for a second there. Are you alright?"

"Fine," dismissed Darcy. "Just thinking."

"About marrying Clint?" asked Peter with a touch of a smile.

"Something like that," confirmed Darcy with her own smirk, her hand picking up his mask from her work bench. "Let's test out your new mask. I wanna see how the night vision enhancements are working out.

"Mom, can I talk to you about something?"

Pepper looked up from her papers to find Darcy standing in the doorway to her office, rubbing her arm uncertainly. Offering her daughter a welcoming smile, the CEO stood up and stepped around the desk. "Darcy! What are you doing here?"

Darcy shrugged as she strolled into the office. "I wanted to see if you could come get lunch with me."

"Always," replied Pepper, glancing down at her calender. She usually kept lunch open for exactly this reason. That wasn't always an option of course, but she did her best and today was one of the days she'd been able to leave open. Standing, she quickly grabbed her jacket and purse before meeting Darcy at the door. "Where were you thinking?"

"I don't know," replied Darcy with a shrug. She looked down at her worn clothing, then back at Pepper. "Probably somewhere that doesn't have a dress code." She pulled a little at what was clearly one of Tony's old shirts, displaying the grease and oil stains which marred the fabric. "I don't think mechanical fluids are usually considered a fashion statement."

Laughing softly, Pepper wrapped an arm around Darcy's shoulder's in a sort of half hug. "Don't worry Darcy, for you and Tony they are and the whole world knows it."

The smile that drew across her daughter's face lit up the room. "Thanks mom."

"It's the truth, Darcy," assured Pepper. "Now, lunch. Where do you want to go?"

Darcy fiddled with the coffee in front of her, eyes focused on the ceramic cup. Pepper didn't say anything as she watched her daughter play with the mug. So much had changed for Darcy in the last year: finding out who her mother's family was, coming to live with the Avengers, graduating from her second degree and coming to officially work for Stark Industries, gaining a long-term boyfriend... And she'd handled every change with grace and ease. It made Pepper happy to know her adopted daughter was so well adjusted.

She also knew the look on Darcy's face all too well. There was something weighing heavily on Darcy's mind, and it worried Pepper a little. Whenever Darcy looked that contemplative, it couldn't be good for anyone.

When she finally did speak, it was quiet. "Mom, I think I want to propose to Clint."

Well, that wasn't what Pepper was expecting. It wasn't that much of a surprise when she considered it. Clint and Darcy had been dating for over a year at this point, and they were still going strong. For a Stark, that's the best sign there is. "Have you discussed this with Clint?"

"No," replied Darcy with a sigh, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "I didn't bother. Mom, I love Clint, but he's really insecure about our whole relationship. Not a jealous, controlling brute insecure, but he's always afraid I'm going to leave him and I won't. I don't want to."

"You love him," supplied Pepper with a soft smile. "I know. We all do. You two aren't always subtle and the man sat outside your workshop once for three days because he was worried about you. Plus, you gave him unlimited access to your workshop so long as you're in the building. Peter is the only other person with that access, and he's been your friend for seven years. You don't let people in easily, which I swear must be a Stark genetic trait, but you let Clint in a year ago."

Darcy groaned and shot her mom a disbelieving look. "Are we really that obvious?"

"I'm relatively sure at this point that Clint is the only person who's still uncertain," confirmed Pepper, "and frankly I can't blame him. Starks are notoriously hard to read from an emotional perspective."

"We aren't that bad..." muttered Darcy, even though her face said she knew that was the case. Sighing, she turned her cup carefully on the table. "So, is asking him to marry me a bad idea or a good one?"

"What does your heart say?" asked Pepper.

The look Darcy gave her said that was the cheesiest thing the young genius had ever heard, but she answered none the less. "I want to be with him for the rest of my life."

"Then ask him," replied Pepper simply.

"You don't think it's a mistake?" asked Darcy, the uncertainty back again.

Pepper chuckled softly, reaching out to gently squeeze Darcy's hand. "I think it would be a mistake _not_ to ask him."

"Good," sighed Darcy, giving her mom a relieved look. It wasn't that Darcy would have really backed down from asking, and Pepper knew that, she just wanted reassurance it was a good idea. Leaning back in her chair again, Darcy grinned at her mom. "So, how do I break the news to Dad?"

"With a lot of vodka, a panic room, and Jarvis locking down his suits," replied Pepper. She paused for a moment, considering that list, then amending it. "Actually, have Jarvis lock down his whole workshop and yours. We can't be too careful after all."

"Darce?" called Clint as he entered his girlfriend's workshop. She'd asked him to meet her in the lab, only saying she wanted to ask him about something.

"Back here, Clint," called Darcy from somewhere near the back of her lab.

Bee-lining towards the sound of her voice, Clint found himself in the part of the lab where Darcy's various motorcycles were kept. She had a design area across from there, where she could model 3-D elements for her designs. Her whole lab was designed for such work, but she preferred to use just the one section rather than the whole space to simplify things.

Pausing beside a workbench, he took a moment to just admire her as she worked. The way her fingers easily danced between different parts of the design, flicking over notes on her Stark Pad and using it to modify the digital form in front of her. No matter what she's doing or what state she's in, he finds Darcy beautiful.

"Taking up stalking?" asked Darcy, her eyes never leaving her work. "I thought only sparkly vampires did that."

Clint chuckled a little, shaking his head. "Your hatred for a set of fictional characters is scary."

"Oh come on," argued Darcy with a roll of her eyes, finally lifting her head to look at Clint. "You can't tell me you don't find that to be a grotesque corruption of the natural order of things. Vampires are supposed to be scary, suck your blood, and turn into bats, not attend high school and date whiny mortal girls."

"Not arguing, still scary," replied Clint with a shake of his head, approaching Darcy and wrapping his arms around her waist. "So what are you working on?"

"A new toy," explained Darcy, leaning her head back against Clint's firm chest and looking up at him. "Do I get a kiss, at least?"

Smiling, Clint leaned down and kissed Darcy softly. "Better?"

"Much," agreed Darcy, pulling away from him and grabbing one of his arms to lead him over to her work bench. Various parts were scattered across the work surface, several of which Darcy pushed aside to set her design pad down. "I wanted to show you something." Her fingers tapped across the screen in front of her for a moment before a different design appeared in the middle of her design floor.

The sleekest compound bow Clint had ever seen hovered in front of him, slim and beautiful. The design looked perfect, but he couldn't understand why she was showing him this. "It's beautiful, Darcy."

"I thought you'd like it," stated Darcy with a smile. "I made a few modifications to the original design which should allow you to get better distance on your shots. Want me to build it?"

"Do you really need to ask?" asked Clint with a grin, pulling Darcy into a hug and kissing her firmly. "Thank you for this, Darcy."

"No problem," replied Darcy with a shrug as she pulled away and ran her fingers over the pad again. "I'm working on some arrow designs too. Just modifications to what you already have, but they should work a little better."

Clint blinked at his girlfriend in surprise and felt his heart swell a little. "Thanks Darcy. That's really wonderful of you."

She shrugged a little, grinning at him. "What can I say? I had some ideas."

Picking up the pad again, she pulled out of his arms, much to his disappointment, and returned to the middle of her design space. Again, the design he'd seen previously filled the space as she returned to her work. "Oh, by the way, I got you a present. It's in the small box on the table in front of you."

Raising an eyebrow in surprise, Clint scanned the work surface and spotted the only box on the table immediately. It was small, velvet, and black in color. The only boxes he'd ever seen like that contained jewelery. Picking up the box carefully, he held it up for Darcy to see. "This one?"

Darcy glanced over her shoulder and nodded. "That's the one."

"What is it?" asked Clint, turning the box over and over in his hands.

"Open it and find out," suggested Darcy. "That's what you're supposed to do, anyway."

Rolling his eyes a little, Clint flicked open the box and froze. There was a ring resting in the middle of the box, thick banded with an embedded diamond flanked by two purple gemstones. "Uh, Darcy, why are you giving me a ring?"

"Because I'm asking you to marry me," replied Darcy simply, her fingers still flicking over her Stark Pad. "And I've been told bows aren't proper proposal gifts." The snark at the end was telling. Stark's turned heavily to snark when they were tense or scared.

Turning towards her again, Clint noticed the tension in her shoulders. The physical markers of stress like the way her whole body was tense or the fact that she wasn't looking at him were as telling as her response to his question. She was being almost off-handed about the whole thing, or at least trying to be, and it was scaring him. "You- you want to marry me?"

"I wouldn't be asking if I didn't," countered Darcy, finally looking back at him. He could see the slight tremor in her hands as she turned towards him further.

"I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to be the one who asks," muttered Clint, even as he slipped the ring on his finger and took the tree steps he needed to take to reach Darcy. His lips fell to hers almost the minute she was in range.

They kissed for a long moment, neither one willing to break away. Clint wasn't complaining either. He wanted to do this every day of his life from now on. He wanted to pull her close at night as they lay in bed together and wake up to find her in his arms. He wanted her there, in his life, for as long as he could. She'd taken the next step that he'd wanted to take for months but been too afraid to, and he wasn't going to back down.

As soon as they broke apart for air, he gave her his answer. "Yes."

The look of relief that spilled onto her face made Clint's chest hurt. _Did she really think I'd say no?_

"I love you, Clint," replied Darcy, leaning up to kiss him again.

"And I love you too, Darcy," assured Clint as soon as their kiss broke. "Do you have anything urgent to finish today?"

"No," replied Darcy, cocking her head at Clint curiously. "Why?"

"Good," murmured Clint just before he picked her up and started for the door, depositing her Stark Pad on the workbench next to the discarded jewelery box. "Because I have plans for you that will take the rest of the day and night. Starting with giving you the engagement ring sitting in my nightstand."


End file.
